A computer virus is a program that invades your computer system, hides there,
and makes copies of (replicates) itself. Viruses spread when you launch an
infected application or start up your computer from a disk that has infected
system files.

Viruses behave in
different ways. Some viruses stay active in memory until you turn off your
computer. Other viruses stay active only as long as the infected applications is running. Turning off your computer or
exiting the application removes the virus from memory, but does not remove the
virus from the infected file or disk.

Some
viruses are programmed specifically to damage the data on your computer by
corrupting programs, deleting files, or erasing your entire hard disk.

All computer viruses are
manmade. A simple virus that can make a copy of itself
over and over again is relatively easy to produce. Even such a simple virus is
dangerous because it will quickly use all available memory and bring the system
to a halt.

Trojan horses are not
viruses; however, they are often thought of as viruses. A trojan
horse is a program that appears to serve some useful purpose or provide
entertainment, which encourages you to run it. But, like the Trojan horse of
old, it also serves a covert purpose which may be to damage files or perhaps
plant a virus on your computer.

Many computer viruses
turn out to be hoaxes or myths. Hoaxes are false alerts about viruses that
don't exist. For a list of hoaxes check out Hoax Warnings On The Run.

We
highly recommend that you have Virus Protection installed in your computer
before you consider downloading anything.